Indian seeds in Africa: a scoping study of challenges and opportunities

Published in January 2016, this Future Agricultures Working Paper No. 135 considers that the international emergence of India’s generic pharmaceuticals industry is seen as a success for international development and cooperation, bringing affordable drugs to populations not only in India itself but across the developing world, including in Africa. Could India’s thriving seed sector play a similar role in delivering affordable, high-quality seeds to African farmers? India shares some of the diverse agro-ecologies and crops found in Africa, so it is plausible that technologies and methods used by Indian farmers might also be relevant to African situations. India’s development story, as an emerging economy with millions of its own small-scale cultivators, might indeed provide relevant knowledge, expertise and investments to help develop the seed sector in Africa – and thereby to support economic development, food security and poverty alleviation in that continent. There will be different opportunities and strategies in different crop markets, regions and countries. The seed sector is not homogeneous but segmented for different crops and seed technologies that have different biological characteristics, and divided into informal as well as formal seed systems with different institutional frameworks and socio-economic functions. Market forces and the entrepreneurial capacities of Indian seed firms will largely determine whether they are able to open up and exploit new markets in Africa.